SHOCKING!

I borrowed Kate's mountain bike last week, but due to visiting Paul and Paula in Worcester, was unable to 'have a go' until last night.

Dave and I decided to go for a leisurely ride along the canal tow path.

OH
GOOD
GRIEF!

We were only gone about 20 minutes, and my thighs were killing, I could barely cycle back home. 

You'd have thought I'd just done a triatholon.

I'm so unfit (and unsupple) that I could hardly swing my leg over the bike in the first place.

BUM!

This definitely needs to be addressed.

Well - that was a first!

I haven't been sleeping very well this past week - it's one of those things we all go through I guess. I've been taking ages to drop off to sleep, and then once I am asleep - keep waking up, tossing and turning... getting grumpier by the second, punching the pillow, trying to make it comfortable, sighing loudly as I throw myself onto my side... I'm sure you've all been there.
 
I'm usually great at getting up in the morning, no fumbling for the alarm clock or bleary eyed panicking from me.

I actually don't NEED the alarm usually, but I still make sure it's set every night - just in case - and then turn it off a couple of minutes before it's due to go off as I get out of bed to go the bathroom.

This morning, I was super grumpy at not getting back off to sleep properly after Dave getting up for work at 04:45. So at 06:30, I decided to turn the alarm off and get up.

And then thought "bugger it - that's 30 minutes earlier than I usually get up, I may JUST be able to get a nap"... and I turned the alarm back on, and snuggled down and tried to get back off to sleep.

Instead of being woken up at 07:00 by the annoying tones of Sarah Kennedy on Radio 2, I was woken up by the annoying tones of my dogs whining outside the bedroom door at 07:35!

Gah!

I'd switched Dave's alarm back on instead of my own, and had overslept by 35 minutes.

Jumped out of bed, ran round the house half dressed, tried to find my shoes (Jasper had hidden one of them), nearly throttled the dogs trying to get their leads on - drove to the park, RAN round the circuit with the dogs - back in the car, home, fed the dogs, got my bag, dived back into the car - and got into work with two minutes to spare.

Phew!

Dave had an even worse morning than me. He left the house at 05:00, on his mountain bike, and his chain came off half way down the St. Helens canal tow path.

He was only about a third of his way to work. He had no tools with him - so had to throw his bike on his back and run the 5 miles back home to get his car. I didn't even hear him coming in as I sleep with ear plugs in - but I did hear the dogs barking, which made me even more grumpy.
 
I'm sure that this has done my high blood pressure a WORLD of good.

We are the champions!!
 
We went to our old local last night with another couple, it's a nice, quiet village pub - that has 'activities' on every night of the week.

Last night was POP QUIZ NIGHT.

We weren't that bothered about entering, but were joking about the last (and only time) that we did - and won... and were nearly lynched for it.

They don't like 'non-regulars' winning these things. 
 
We were eventually pursuaded to enter by the manager, who knew one of our friends.
We came joint first, and had a tie breaker.  The other team were the Pub Champions, and there were 9 of them on their team.

So - the tie breaker.... the Quiz Master played a piece of music, and the first team to write it down and get the piece of paper to him won.

Easy.

The tune was 'China In Your Hands' by T'Pau.   Claire snatched the piece of paper off me and ran to the quiz master.  To calls of 'What chance have we got - she's half our age, there should be a handicap on that team'

!!

So - the Quiz Master changed the rules.  It wasn't a race.  Just get the piece of paper to him, and the first one to be wrong, was out.

??

Next tune was 'Manic Monday' by the Bangles.  Claire took the piece of paper and went to the Quiz Master. 

The other team were still sitting, with one member again grumbling 'What chance have we got.', with the other members still debating amongst themselves as to what the tune was...

The Quiz Master kept calling over to them - 'Come ON!  You know it.  I know you know it.  Think of an 80s, American girl band.'

All the time we were sitting there, laughing, a bit dumbstruck at such blatant cheating... wondering if we would be given the same amount of chances.

They eventually conceded defeat - and we won.

The prize?  8 pints of draught beer.  Or rather, vouchers for 8 pints of draught beer.
THEN the other team came over to us, complaining that we were closer to the speakers, and they couldn't hear anything... yadda yadda, and they've CHALLENGED US to go back for  the full quiz tonight, which is worth £50.  They made such a big deal of it all, that Claire felt sorry for them, and offered them our beer tokens!!
 
(I think not baby puppy!)

So - do we go tonight, and whup their arses, or let them stew?  Taking into considerating that they'll probably have their CHAMPION quiz team in attendance...

I think we'll let 'em stew.

Squeeeeeee!!!...

I came home this afternoon, to a house full of burly plumbers. Well, three plumbers, but they were very big, and made the house seem very small - hence I quickly took the dogs out for their walk, in order to get out of the house.

Anyway, when I returned, they were just packing up for the day, with the assurance that they would be back tomorrow to finish...

Sooooo happy.

For your 'delight and delictation' - updated photos of the bathroom, excuse the darkness of them, I couldn't be bothered editing them in Photoshop.

OLD BATHROOM






NEW BATHROOM

Photos from the camping trip...

Some photos from the camping trip.

I've tried to keep 'em quite small, I apologise if they take a while to load.



Abersoch.



Bardsey Point



Harlech Castle

This is what we saw immediately behind our tent every day...



and this, was to the right of the tent - the mighty Snowdonia.



We love Harlech, and would move there at the drop of the proverbial hat. If we weren't so scared of all the Welsh Nationalists that live there.